The hill-range of Riṭigala is located about twenty-five miles south-east of Anurādhapura and eighteen miles north-east of Dam̆bulla. This commanding position, as well as the shelter which the mountain’s numerous rocks and caves afford, may account for its importance in ancient times, both as a stronghold of contending clans and as a place of refuge for fugitive princes and religious devotees. The name of the mountain range may be derived from the site’s trees (Sinh. ‘riti’), from the Pali name ‘Arittha’ (‘safety’, in reference to the range’s function as a place of shelter) or even from Maha Arittha, the chief minister of King Devanampiya Tissa (reg. c. 250-210 B.C.). The range has numerous caves, rocks, ruins and inscriptions. Two of the inscriptions name the area as ‘ariṭa-gama’, confirming the identification of the site as Ariṭṭa-pabbata (or -sēla), a mountain range mentioned in the Sri Lankan chronicle, the ‘Mahāvaṁsa’. The range has also been associated with Mt Aristha of the Indian epic the ‘Rāmayana’.
| Metadata | |
|---|---|
| Object ID | OB03032 |
| Title | Riṭigala Vēväl-tänna |
| Subtitle | |
| Inscription(s) | IN03051 IN03052 |
| Child Object | |
| Parent Object | |
| Related Objects | |
| Responsibility | |
| Author | Don Martino de Zilva Wickremasinghe |
| Metadata recorded by | |
| Authority for metadata | |
| Metadata improved by | |
| Authoriy for improved | |
| Description | |
| Material | Rock |
| Object Type | Rock |
| Dimensions: | |
| Width | |
| Height | |
| Depth | |
| Weight | |
| Details | A small valley surrounded by hills in the lower eastern spur of the Riṭigala mountain range. The valley is approximately three-quarters of a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide at the centre, growing narrower at the south end. It is strewn with boulders, at least one of which is inscribed, and has at least one cave, which also bears an inscription. |
| History | |
| Created: | |
| Date | |
| Place | Riṭigala |
| Other ancient history | |
| Found: | |
| Date | |
| Place | |
| Other modern history | |
| Latest: | |
| Date | |
| Place | Riṭigala |
| Authority | Wickremasinghe, Don Martino de Zilva. (1904-12). ‘No. 10. Riṭigala Inscriptions,’ Epigraphia Zeylanica 1, pp. 135-153. |
| Details | Discovered for scholarship by H. C. P. Bell (the Archaeological Commissioner of Ceylon) in 1893. |
| Notes | |